Hamilton stops work with indicted engineering firm in Pay-to-Play case

Birdsall Services Group, the firm wrapped up in a state-wide pay-to-play violations probe, has stopped all work in Hamilton, according to township officials.

The township has $88,457.19 in open purchase orders with the firm, where work has been stopped, according to Rich Watson, the director of the township’s department of Water Pollution Control.

“I have informed the BSG (Birdsall Services Group) Project Managers not to do any more work on any of the projects. We are closing all remaining jobs whether they are complete or not,” he said in an email.

John Barrett, the township’s chief financial officer, said he has not received any direction from the state about how to handle open accounts with the firm, which has had its assets seized as part of the probe.

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State prosecutors are objecting to a bankruptcy filing made by the firm just days after it was indicted and state authorities won an order freezing its assets.

In legal papers filed late Sunday in federal court, the Attorney General’s Office said the filing by Eatontown-based Birdsall Services Group was a “misguided” attempt to circumvent the prosecution against it and seven current and former executives.

In its filing, Birdsall asked that the frozen funds be released so it can pay its creditors and issue paychecks to its 325 employees.

Birdsall and seven of its top executives were indicted Tuesday for allegedly conspiring to circumvent the state’s pay-to-play law while making millions of dollars off government contracts.

The first executive from the firm to plead guilty last year, Phil Angarone Jr., of Hamilton, served as the chairman of the Mercer County Republican Committee, and also had ties to Hamilton politics.

As reported by The Trentonian in January, Angarone served as a chairman for the Mayor’s Ball in 2010 and 2011 when advertisements for Birdsall and other engineering firms appeared in the events programs without corresponding donations in state databases.

The firm has received more than $330,000 in work with the township, counting the $88,000 in work still open.

The week after Angarone’s guilty plea, the firm also lost out on another bid, this one for $8,000. The council instead went with the other bidder, for about $16,000. After that, several administrators said they would probably not go out to bid for more work with the company.

Other news reports indicated townships throughout the state have made moves to deal with the work bid to the contractor.